


Something I Forgot to Say To You

by AngelinaVansen (catherineflowers)



Series: Eurythmics Songfics [3]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Multi, Threesome - F/F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-07 18:03:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19474474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catherineflowers/pseuds/AngelinaVansen
Summary: Third part of the story begun in “Behind Every Great Woman”.  Set a couple of months after the crew get home, Kathryn, Chakotay and Seven have to decide how their relationship will continue.





	Something I Forgot to Say To You

**Author's Note:**

> Written in the early 2000s. I started writing these stories before there was even a hint of C/7 in the show. Since I found the whole C/7 relationship pathetic and poorly written, I choose to continue the dynamic of distrust and rivalry that I feel is more in keeping with their characters. No idea why they are all named after Eurythmics lyrics, I must have had a reason back in the day.

The first time I saw Kathryn was about two months after we returned to the Alpha Quadrant. Things had been hectic after the ship’s return, we all had family to catch up with and questions to answer, and most of us felt the need to put a little distance between ourselves and our lives on Voyager for a while.   
  
I had been in Arizona, looking up old friends and cousins, generally reacquainting myself with a place I had come to think of as home. It was funny really, but before Voyager, I had always considered myself as something of a nomad, never getting too attached to any of the planets I had lived. Since our trip to the Delta Quadrant, however, I found myself longing for the simple pleasure of a place to call my own.   
  
Perhaps it was old age, or simply an after-effect of having a lifestyle of wandering through a strange quadrant thrust upon me. But seeing my cousin Wakka, little more than a boy when I had seen him last, settled down with two little girls of his own, made me realise how much I wanted that right now.  
  
I had thought that maybe I would feel differently once I reached home, which was part of the reason I had given myself distance. But deep in my heart, I knew I didn’t. I wanted those things, and I wanted them with Kathryn.  
  
This was a desire which tore at me, because I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy thing to get. Firstly, there was the question of whether my intrepid former Captain was even ready to settle down. She may have intentions for another command; the explorer in her was a difficult voice to ignore.  
  
Then, of course, there was the question of Seven of Nine.  
  
Seven of Nine, the woman who had shared Kathryn’s heart and bed with me for the past three years, was a formidable obstacle. I had no doubts that her feelings for Kathryn were as strong as mine, or that Kathryn loved her back with equal passion. However, simply put, I had no intention of making our peculiar three-way relationship a permanent fixture now we were in the Alpha Quadrant.  
  
Selfish it may have been, but I was tired of sharing the woman I loved. Watching the ecstasy Kathryn found in Seven’s arms had never been easy, even from the first. Part of me always thought Seven used her Borg implants for the sole purpose of getting under my skin, teasing and tickling Kathryn’s most sensitive spots in a way that no mere human ever could. Sometimes the superior look on her face was almost more than I could bear.  
  
So, as the weeks drew on, my heart began to ache once again for Kathryn. I thanked Wakka and his wife Yuna for their hospitality, but it was with a renewed sense of purpose that I made my way back to San Francisco, determined that Kathryn would once again be mine alone.  
  
Tracking her down was actually more difficult than I had anticipated. She had been in meetings with Starfleet Command, endless debriefings which had obviously occupied a lot of her time and energy. Every one of our crew members said she had been looking tired and drained, but hadn’t known where she had decided to go after the official stuff had finished.  
  
Then, unexpectedly, I heard she was vacationing in Cartagena. Apparently, she had a house out there, where the southern Spanish coastline was its most beautiful. This was a pleasing thought. I imagined her relaxing, sunning herself, getting over the trauma of the past seven years.   
  
I spoke to her mother, who had seemed to sense a little something of my complicated relationship with her daughter. Gently, she told me exactly where it was that Kathryn’s house was, and hinted that I should go and see her.  
  
I didn’t need telling twice. I was packed and heading for a transport station within the hour. I wanted to see her so much it hurt.   
  
I arrived in Spain quite overdressed for the time of year. Even though it was barely April, I found myself perspiring as I made my way thorough the quiet little streets. Being early afternoon, it was siesta time, and there was barely another human being around.  
  
It really was a lovely place, unspoilt by the years and ever so picturesque. It was the perfect place to relax and rediscover yourself, and I hoped that was exactly what Kathryn was doing.  
  
Following her mother’s instructions, I found Kathryn’s house with ease. It was quite lovely, set high on one of the numerous hills, with a wonderfully overgrown garden that was teeming with life. Pollen and petals floated on the currents of air, and butterflies flew from flower to flower. As I opened the gate, a soft little puppy ran towards me, barking excitedly.  
  
“Hey there,” I whispered to her, patting her short red coat. She had a little leather collar around her neck, with a tag that read “Lulu”. She was cute. I had a happy vision of her playing around Kathryn’s ankles, making the Captain laugh happily at her antics. Yes, I could see Kathryn being happy here at last. I could see her being relaxed.  
  
Heart pounding hard, I knocked on her door. The seconds ticked by slowly as I prayed she was at home. Then, the door opened, and there she was. Wrapped in a dark green silken robe, she looked utterly wonderful. None of my fevered fantasises had made her quite this lovely: roses in her cheeks, her hair bright red and tousled, eyes afire.  
  
“Chakotay!” she gasped.  
  
My breath was taken away by the sight of her. “Oh, Kathryn ...” I moaned, and then I was in her arms.  
  
She gasped a little in surprise at my eagerness, but then moaned and sighed with me as we came together. We kissed and her tongue was hot and alive in my mouth. From that moment, I was lost.  
  
I crushed her against me, smashing her up against the hallway wall, grinding my pelvis hard against hers. One of her small little hands found mine and guided it between her legs.  
  
I manipulated her sex shamelessly through the green silk of her robe, rubbing her hard until she was soaking the material between us, clitoris throbbing and swollen.  
  
“I love you,” I moaned against her neck.  
  
“I love you too,” she whimpered in reply. “Please don’t stop!”  
  
I didn’t. As hellos went, this was above and beyond. I watched her sweet little flushed face get very intense, breasts heaving wildly. Then she gritted her teeth and came, curling her head to my shoulder and biting down to stifle her cries.  
  
Watching that, I was as hard as a rock. She was kissing me gratefully, a soft clutch of kisses over my chin and neck. Moaning about how good it had been.  
  
I was in a whole other state. I grasped at her thighs, thrusting at her through my pants in an instinctive mimicry of intercourse. I wanted her so bad my teeth hurt.  
  
“Bedroom,” I growled, beyond niceties. She responded with a throaty chuckle.  
  
She took my hand and led me through to a darkened room, curtains still drawn, and thrust me back into the softness of a big bed. I arched into the pillows moaning, needing something, someone, to touch my cock before I exploded.   
  
I needn’t have worried. It took Kathryn all of four seconds to get my pants down and my burning cock positioned just inside her sex. She undulated slightly on top, teasing me, robe open and falling so it only just covered her breasts.  
  
I grabbed her thighs again and impaled her all the way, not wanting to be teased just now. All I could think of were the endless weeks it had been since I had last known the pleasure of making love to Kathryn. This was NOT the time for games. Right now I just wanted to fuck the woman.  
  
Naturally, I didn’t last very long. I drove into her, howling, eyes clamped tightly shut, my penis the centre of a dozen or so seconds of pure, pumped ecstasy. I was only aware of my own voice crying hoarsely. The world was gone, the universe was shooting from my cock.  
  
“Okay?” Kathryn asked quite casually when I had regained my sense of spatial awareness.  
  
“Ye - yes,” I stammered, whole body trembling.  
  
“Mmmm,” she hummed affectionately, leaning over to place a soft kiss on my mouth, and to rub her nose with mine. “That was lovely.”  
  
I grinned weakly, absolutely shattered.  
  
“Want some coffee?”  
  
I nodded, and she kissed me again before pulling her robe over her again and padding out of the room to get some.  
  
We’d actually made a bit of a mess, I realised as I got my breath back. In addition to the rapidly spreading wet patch, the bed was trashed, pillows everywhere and sheets screwed up and in terrible disarray. The blanket was nowhere in sight.  
  
There were clothes on the floor as well, but I could hardly take the blame for that. Clearly, Kathryn was a lot messier at home than she had been on Voyager.  
  
It was sort of cute really, and kind of sexy, too, considering most of the items littering the carpet were underwear. Kathryn’s coffee-coloured chemise was here, as well as those sexy sheer peach panties I liked to give her oral sex through. Half under the bed was one of the black silk stockings she had tied me up with on my birthday.  
  
Then there was a pale blue bra I’d never seen before. Delicate, trimmed with small blue flowers, it was not an item I could see Kathryn purchasing. Then I noticed something else. The cup was more suited to the size of Kathryn’s head than one of her breasts.  
  
Seven. My blood ran cold. Seven. Seven-of-goddamn-Nine. That sneaky little bitch had beaten me out here and wormed her way between Kathryn’s legs before I could.  
  
Looking around the room now, the presence of the young drone was quite obvious. There were hairpins on the dresser, and Kathryn never wore her hair up any more. There were two glasses half full of wine on the nightstand, each marked with a different shade of lipstick. Next to my head on the pillow there were even a couple of long blonde hairs.  
  
Rage filled me. Rage and despair. All I wanted was to be with Kathryn. After all that time in the Delta Quadrant, all I wanted was to share my life with the woman I loved, but all my visions of a home and family like Wakka’s remained cruelly out of reach as long as Seven was still in the picture. It hurt like hell.  
  
Really, in my heart of hearts, I had always expected Kathryn to gravitate back towards me. Our love for each other was as strong as ever, and I had made sure she knew how totally committed I was. Back on Earth, with family and friends and no stressful command duties, I expected Kathryn to see the ridiculousness of a relationship with an emotionally immature Borg drone. I expected her to remember what we had always meant to one another.  
  
Naturally, right then, in a bedroom scattered with the evidence that Seven and Kathryn were still very much an item, I was terrified.  
  
I quickly brushed away the tears as Kathryn returned, two coffee cups in hand. She deposited them on the nightstand next to the wine glasses and then settled down on top of me with a contented little sigh, resting her chin on my belly and gazing sweetly into my eyes.   
  
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit, then?” she asked. She didn’t notice the huge lump in my throat.  
  
I shrugged, trying to remain casual. “I missed you,” I mumbled simply.  
  
She smiled, and leaned over me to take a sip of her coffee. “I missed you too,” she responded after swallowing.  
  
“Did you?” I asked quite sharply.  
  
Her eyes flew quizzically to mine. She didn’t like that tone.  
  
As an answer, I let a finger trace the neckline of her robe, over the swell of her breast. The silken material slid away from her skin to reveal a peak that was more hickey than nipple, red and raw and bruised, distinct purple teeth-marks around the aureola.  
  
“Lulu get a little too playful?” I spat at her.  
  
“No,” she said calmly. “Seven’s got a thing about my breasts at the moment.”  
  
I inspected the damage to her other nipple cheerlessly. “I’ll say she has,” I said eventually in a low voice.  
  
I let her robe fall back into place, and there was silence between us for a long moment. Kathryn drank her coffee.  
  
“Is she ... living here with you?” I asked, trying to swallow the huge lump of lead that was sitting in my throat.  
  
She couldn’t meet my eye. Instead, she looked into the depths of her coffee cup. “Well,” she said at last. “We haven’t really discussed it officially ....”  
  
“So that’s it?!” I yelled. “Four goddamn years, and this is how you do it? Move your Borg in here and just hope I’m going to take the hint and disappear?”  
  
“No!” she exclaimed. “No, Chakotay, of course not. It wasn’t like that. Seven had nowhere to live, she didn’t know anybody, she didn’t really have any connections here. Starfleet accommodations weren’t doing her any favours. She came out here with me for a vacation, really. Just a respite. She’s really confused at the moment, she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life. I thought some time out here might help to clear her mind a little.”  
  
I was silent.  
  
“She’s been to hell and back these past few months, Chakotay,” Kathryn said. “She needed me.”  
  
“I needed you too,” I pouted.  
  
“That’s why you’ve been in Arizona, is it?” she asked pointedly. “With your family?”  
  
“Damn it, I was trying to give you some space!” I yelled. “I thought you needed time to some to some sort of decisions about us. I didn’t realise they’d already been MADE!”  
  
“I haven’t made any decisions,” she said, not without anger. “I’m not the one who thinks decisions have to be made.”  
  
We fell back into a sullen silence then, neither one looking at the other.  
  
I couldn’t bear being angry with her though. Or for her to be angry at me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “We don’t have to talk about this now.”  
  
She nodded, seeming to accept this. “Okay,” she said.  
  
“Where is Seven now?”   
  
“She’s in town,” Kathryn replied. “She’s been trying her hand at a little watercolour painting, and I encouraged her to try the cathedral. She’s been there since lunchtime.”  
  
“I see,” I deadpanned, having trouble getting my head around the image of Seven at an easel.  
  
“She’s really very good!” chuckled Kathryn at my expression. “Very ... precise.”  
  
Now THAT I could imagine. Unable to hide her mirth, Kathryn giggled softly with me before taking another sip of her coffee. She really was unbelievably beautiful in the strong afternoon sunshine.  
  
I threaded my hand into her hair and drew her face to mine for a sloppy little kiss. She returned it eagerly, and we spent the next few minutes in silence, exploring each other’s lips and skin with the familiar passion I had so missed.  
  
We ended up dreamily caressing each other in silence. Then, Kathryn said “Are you planning to stay?”  
  
She said it so quietly I barely heard. When I looked at her, she was looking vulnerable.  
  
“Am I what?” I asked.  
  
“Planning to stay,” she repeated. “Here. With me and Seven.”  
  
“Kathryn ...” I started.  
  
She held up a hand, not wanting to hear my ultimatums. “Just for a holiday,” she said. “Before I ... before we decide what we’re going to do next.”  
  
I sighed. “Of course,” I told her. Did she really think I would refuse her while I lay naked in her arms?  
  
She smiled a little grimly, and nodded. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy for her. After that, we stayed in bed for the rest of the afternoon. We made love again, and slept for several hours, curled up like kittens.   
  
When I awoke, it was early evening and the sky was a beautiful shade of red outside the broad windows of the bedroom. Kathryn had left the bed. I could hear her in another room, singing badly to herself as she walked around.   
  
At least she sounded happy, I thought to myself. It was rare that she was ever that carefree on Voyager. No matter about the assault on the eardrums, it was good to hear her in such a mood. I got up from the bed, pulled on my pants and went to find her.   
  
She was in the dining room, setting the table for three.  
  
Her face lit up as I walked in. “I was just coming to wake you!” she exclaimed. “The replicator’s all programmed, I was about to dish up.”  
  
“Great,” I said. “Is Seven back?”  
  
Kathryn wrinkled her brow briefly. “No,” she said casually.  
  
“No?” I asked. “It’s getting kind of dark for painting, isn’t it?”  
  
“Borg-vision,” she shrugged.  
  
“Ah ...” I said.  
  
“She usually comes back for dinner.”  
  
With that, Kathryn moved to the replicator, making two plates of something appear.  
  
I sat down and folded a napkin on my lap. “What is it?” I asked.  
  
“Fish,” she said simply. “In sauce.”  
  
That was as close to a recipe as I was likely to get from Kathryn. Nevertheless, it looked quite appetising as it was set down in front of me.  
  
Just then, the front door opened out in the hall. Kathryn got to her feet. “Hi!” she called out.  
  
Seven came into the room, looking tanned and pretty, her blonde hair held back in a loose plait. She accepted Kathryn’s kiss, but her eyes were on me.   
  
“Hello Seven,” I said.   
  
“Chakotay,” she greeted flatly. Clearly she was less than happy to see me.   
  
Shame, I thought sarcastically. It must be awful having this little paradise invaded by her lover‘s boyfriend. I grinned at her.  
  
“Chakotay thought he’d surprise us,” explained Kathryn.  
  
Seven said nothing, but sat down at the table opposite me, a sullen set to her jaw. Kathryn got her dinner from the replicator and served it to her, trailing a loving hand across the drone’s tense neck.  
  
It was odd watching this little scene play out before me, imagining how it had been in the weeks before I arrived. Kathryn seemed so domesticated, almost as if she were playing the little wife to Seven. She poured her wine, rubbed her shoulders, did everything but cut her food up. Even when she took her own seat once again, her eyes did not stop flickering to Seven.  
  
Uncomfortable and more than a little jealous, I attempted to make conversation with the former Borg.  
  
“So, Seven,” I began. “I hear you’ve taken up painting.”  
  
“Yes,” she replied. Then stopped.  
  
“What kind of painting?” I asked.  
  
“Watercolour,” she said.  
  
God, this was like getting blood out of a stone. “I hear you’ve been painting the cathedral.“  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Sounds like a challenge. I‘d love to take a look at your work.”  
  
“No,” Seven said.  
  
Kathryn chuckled, as if that was the cutest thing in the world. “Seven’s become very protective of her work lately,” she explained.  
  
“It is not sufficiently perfect,” said the drone. “it does not look enough like the subject.”  
  
“I see,” I said. “Maybe you should take up photography.”  
  
That earned me a glare from both women.  
  
“There’s a picture of Seven’s in the bedroom,” Kathryn said. “One of her first. It’s in a little frame on the dressing table.”  
  
“I’ll take a look after dinner,” I promised.  
  
We went back to eating, and Kathryn and I made conversation. Seven, however, responded monosyllabically throughout.  
  
When we had finished, Kathryn cleared away the plates and served us chocolate ice cream for dessert. Seven and I sat in silence.  
  
“So,” our former Captain said, sitting down with her own bowl. She had a rather naughty gleam in her eye. “What shall we do tonight then?”  
  
“Tonight?” I asked, echoing her saucy tone.  
  
Seven visibly stiffened. After having Kathryn to herself for weeks on end, she clearly wasn’t happy to be sharing again.   
  
“I have a headache,” she said bluntly.  
  
“A headache?” Kathryn echoed.  
  
“Yes,” said the drone. She chewed the inside of her cheeks sulkily.  
  
“Oh well,” I grinned, putting a hand on Kathryn’s thigh. “More for me then.”  
  
Kathryn giggled playfully, and tickled the back of my hand with her fingers. She leaned across the table and we shared a sloppy wet kiss which tasted wonderfully of the chocolate ice cream. Seven looked almost nauseous.  
  
Kathryn, eyes shining, didn’t see this. She took hold of my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Bedroom,” she commanded, jokingly echoing my earlier demand.  
  
I followed her eagerly, pushing her back on the big soft mattress and pulling her dress off to suckle at her breasts. She moaned and groaned: I wasn’t being gentle, despite the bruising. She wrapped her firm thighs round my body and cradled my face into her warm sweet flesh.  
  
She tasted as delicious as ever; I couldn’t get enough. My mouth watered as the heady scent of her arousal filled the air.  
  
“I missed you, Chakotay,” she moaned as I fingered her most intimate places through her panties.  
  
“I missed you too,” I mumbled into her breast, though that didn’t even come close. I just hoped that a good dose of oral pleasure would show her just how strongly I really did feel.  
  
I started my descent over the curve of her belly, dropping little kisses in a downward trail. Kathryn threaded her fingers into my hair and tensed her hips as I kissed her clitoris gently through the white lace of her panties.  
  
Looking her in the eyes with my patented dimple grin, I started to ease her panties down from her hips.  
  
Just then, Kathryn was forcibly pulled from me by Seven of Nine, who had decided she wanted to play rough. Kathryn squeaked with surprise, but responded eagerly to the drone’s lips, curling the warm flesh I had just had all to myself around this most unwelcome intruder.  
  
“What happened to your headache?” I growled as Seven nestled her Borg hand into Kathryn’s panties.  
  
“Nanoprobes,” she replied with a superior nonchalance.  
  
Angry, I yanked Kathryn’s legs back against me, spooning up against the curve of her buttocks and ripping her panties off with more force than was probably necessary.  
  
She barely noticed: she was too busy crying and yelping from Seven’s ministrations to her poor, sore nipples. The drone’s mouth bit and chewed relentlessly, sometimes pulling until I was certain she was going to tear the flesh. By the time she pulled away, both nipples were absolutely scarlet, glistening with Seven’s saliva.  
  
I spread her legs and positioned myself against the warm, wet opening to her body, preparing to give her the fucking of her life. At least this was one area I knew I had the advantage in. That goddamn vibrating hand might have been enough to send Kathryn into the next world with pleasure, but NOTHING made up for a nice bit of hard cock.  
  
Kathryn groaned as I forced my way inside her, lifting one leg and holding it off the bed so I could fuck her even deeper. She seemed to enjoy this tremendously, her head falling back on my shoulder as she panted her way through a Borg-hand induced orgasm. It felt pretty terrific from my angle, as well. I had to fight my own urge to come as she contracted rhythmically around me.  
  
“Keep going ...” she groaned, though it wasn’t clear if she was talking to me or Seven. Nevertheless, both of us redoubled our efforts and she came quickly again.  
  
After that, she became much more playful. She made us all get up so we could change positions: Seven lying flat on her back so she could bury her mouth between the young drone’s legs, and me behind, banging her doggy-style. This was all fine and good as far as I was concerned: watching the two of them together was always quite a spectacle, and I had front-row seats and a handful of Kathryn’s butt to boot.  
  
Naturally, I didn’t last very long like this. I made Kathryn come by pulling on her poor, abused nipples once more, and this time I went off with her. I clutched her against me and spurted deep inside her until I was spent. I collapsed back on her soft white pillows, groaning.  
  
Kathryn laughed. “Poor Chakotay,” she teased.  
  
“You ... you have no idea what you do to me ...” I managed to groan in reply.  
  
“Rest up,” she ordered. “I have every intention of doing it to you again before the night is out.”  
  
Impatient, Seven pulled Kathryn’s head back down to her sex, toying and playing with her own stiff, pale nipples in a less than gentle manner. I watched the two of them as I began to doze, watched them pleasure each other almost relentlessly. At times they were slow and loving, and at others they fondled each other almost roughly. I fell into a restless sleep, often disturbed by moaning and panting and screaming.  
  
Unsurprisingly, Kathryn had no energy to keep her promise to have sex with me again that night. When I woke with a start at 0400, she was asleep flat on her back, snoring softly beside me.  
  
Seven was awake, however. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her naked back towards me, skin colourless in the dawn light. I pulled myself upright, trying to collect my head.  
  
“Seven?” I whispered.  
  
“What?” she hissed. She turned towards me, and I was shocked to see her eyes were full of tears.  
  
“Wha ... what’s the matter?”  
  
“Lower your voice. You’ll wake Kathryn.”  
  
“I don’t think so,” I replied, looking at our Captain’s inert form.  
  
Seven said nothing.   
  
I sighed. “Are you upset because I came here?” I asked her.  
  
“Yes,” she said angrily. Then “No. I don’t know. It’s not that, really. It just makes things worse.”  
  
Now I was confused. “What things?” I asked her.  
  
“Things are happening to me, Chakotay. Awful things, things I can’t discuss with Kathryn.”   
  
“What things?” I repeated. She was making no sense at all.  
  
“I ... I can’t tell you ...” she sobbed.  
  
“Why not?” I asked.  
  
“Because you’ll tell Kathryn.”  
  
“Seven, what the hell’s going on? Are you in trouble of some kind?”  
  
She paused for a moment, clearly fighting with herself on how to answer that question. “Yes,” she said at last.  
  
“I think you’d better explain,” I told her.  
  
“No!” she exclaimed. “No, I can’t do that. Kathryn, she ... she might wake up.”  
  
“Okay,” I said gently. “Do you want to go somewhere else?”  
  
She looked me in the eyes for a long moment, her pretty face a mask of misery and torment. “Tomorrow,” she said. “Tomorrow, come with me when I go out painting, and I’ll show you.”  
  
“Okay,” I nodded, trying to be reassuring. To tell the truth, my head was spinning. I hadn’t got a clue what Seven might have gotten herself into. “I’ll come with you,” I told her.  
  
She seemed to relax a little at that, and even offered me a weak, watery smile. “Thank you,” she said.  
  
“You’re welcome,” I replied reflexively.  
  
She shuddered a little in the cool morning air, and drew her arms over her breasts.  
  
“Can’t you sleep?” I asked her gently.  
  
“No,” she said, but settled back down onto the pillows the other side of Kathryn. She nuzzled close to the warm skin of Kathryn’s arm, absently kissing along the Captain’s shoulder.  
  
I placed a hand on the sleeping woman’s belly, letting my fingers creep through the damp curls below. When I looked back up, I saw that Seven was tracing the contour of one of Kathryn’s bruised, swollen nipples with her finger.  
  
“You’ve done quite a bit of damage there,” I smiled.  
  
“She is ... delicious,” Seven said simply. I couldn’t argue with that.   
  
Together, the two of us stroked and explored every inch of Kathryn while she slept, and finally fell asleep as the first rays of sun crept through the bedroom window.  
  
When I woke up, I was alone in the bed. Both Kathryn and Seven were outside on the patio in their nightdresses, enjoying coffee and pastries.  
  
Lulu bounded excitedly around Kathryn’s feet, her tail wagging as she played with a brightly coloured ball. I put a robe on and went to join them.  
  
Kathryn kissed me good morning and poured me a coffee, tutting and rolling her eyes at the amount of sugar I had to add to her strong blend. The whole time, I could feel Seven’s gaze on me, heavy, reminding me of my promise to her. Whatever her problem was, it was clearly weighing heavily on her mind.  
  
“I think I might join you in town today,” I said to Seven, scratching my morning stubble.  
  
“Oh?” asked Kathryn, looking up from petting Lulu.  
  
“Well, I’ve never been to Cartagena before, I’d like the chance to look around,” I said.  
  
“Very well,” said Seven, doing her very best to pretend she was extremely pissed off by the idea. “I am intending to leave in thirty minutes.”  
  
“I’ll be ready,” I told her.  
  
“What, deserting me so soon?” asked Kathryn as she flung the ball to the far end of the garden for her dog.  
  
“It’s a beautiful part of the world,” I said. “I’d like to take in the sights, do a bit of shopping ... maybe I’ll call into a pharmacy and get you a dermal regenerator for those nipples, as well.”  
  
“No!” she cried. “I like them just the way they are.”  
  
“Really?” I asked in disbelief.  
  
“They’re so sensitive like this,” she explained. “In a good way.”  
  
“Are they?” I said saucily, getting up to take her in my arms. I brushed them with my fingertips though her white satin nightdress, and she stiffened. She ground her hips into mine, and my morning erection came back with a vengeance, poking out from my robe.  
  
“Oh, Kathryn ...” I sighed against her lips, already painfully aroused.  
  
I was just about to delve in for another kiss when Seven interrupted me. “You should get ready, Chakotay,” she said.  
  
I sighed, and Kathryn grinned at me. She wrapped her fingers around my cock and teasingly slid the foreskin back and forth across the shaft, which was exquisite. I moaned, drooling pre-cum.  
  
“I think you should run some cold water over that thing,” she grinned.  
  
She was a cruel woman sometimes, but I loved her. I limped off to the bathroom and took a very quick, very cold shower. Then I shaved and dressed, and got myself all ready for Seven’s big surprise.  
  
As I came out of the bathroom, the young drone was waiting for me.  
  
“Are you ready?” she asked nervously.  
  
“Yes,” I said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”  
  
She looked at me pleadingly. “I am sure,” she said.  
  
“Okay,” I said.  
  
We went out the back and both kissed Kathryn goodbye, Seven rather sadly I thought. As we left, our former Captain was clearing the table, chatting away happily to Lulu as she did so.  
  
We walked into town silently, Seven hugging her painting box to her chest morosely. When we were a good distance from the house, I spoke.  
  
“Are you going to tell me what this is about, Seven?” I asked.  
  
“No,” she said bluntly. “I need to show you.”  
  
“All right,” I agreed. “Where are we going.”  
  
“To the cathedral,” she shrugged. “To paint.”  
  
In actuality, there wasn’t much of a cathedral left. To the left of it were the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, which Seven claimed to have painted the week before, and the cathedral itself was little more than a door and a shell.  
  
However, as we walked down the road towards it, Seven stopped suddenly and grabbed hold of my arm, quite hard.  
  
“Ow! “ I yelled, not realising just how strong her Borg-augmented grip was. “Seven, what?!”  
  
“There,” she hissed, nodding towards a group of painters set out on easels in front of the cathedral.  
  
“What?” I asked, failing to make the connection.  
  
She nodded towards the group, indicating a young woman who was set a little way apart, studying the building from a rather peculiar angle. “Her ... there.”  
  
“The blonde woman?” I asked, squinting in the morning sunshine to make out fine, delicate features, almost pixie-like in their innocence.  
  
“Yes,” she said urgently. “Do you feel it?”  
  
“Feel what?” I asked. “Is this a Borg thing?”  
  
“No! I ... I thought you’d feel it, I felt sure you would. We ... we like the same women.”  
  
“Well, we both like Kathryn, but that’s hardly the same thing,” I said, rather dumbly, before clicking. “Oh!” I exclaimed as it fell into place. “You LIKE this woman? As more than a friend?”  
  
“I ... I ... yes, I do.”  
  
“Really?” I gasped. “Does she know?!”  
  
Seven coloured and then looked away. She looked desperately uncomfortable.  
  
“Let’s go somewhere else and talk about this,” I suggested. “Is there somewhere we can get some coffee?”  
  
She nodded, and seemed relieved as we walked back up the narrow street to a little place where there were tables and chairs laid out in the morning sun. We took a seat and ordered coffee.  
  
“So,” I said gently. “You met this woman ...”  
  
“Rikku,” she interrupted.  
  
“Huh?”   
  
“Rikku. That is her name. Her mother is human, but her father is from Zanarkand.”  
  
“Okay. So you met Rikku, and ... you’ve become attracted to her?”  
  
Seven looked at her feet, shame tingeing her pretty features. “Yes,” she whispered. “Almost since the moment we met.” She had it bad, I could tell. Even in the turmoil of her confession, she was lit up by her feelings.  
  
“Does she know?” I asked her softly.  
  
“Yes,” she said.   
  
“You’ve discussed it?”  
  
“Yes. I ... asked her if she shared the feelings.”  
  
Well, Seven of Nine wasn’t shy, I had to give her that. “Oh. What did she say?”  
  
“I already suspected that she did share them,” she admitted. “I was aware of a certain amount of ... desire when she looked at my body.“  
  
“So how did she react?”  
  
“She admitted that she, too, had developed feelings for me, and that she wished to pursue a romantic relationship.”  
  
This was incredible. “I gaped at her. “You mean you ... and her ....” I was stuttering. I was, quite simply, amazed. “Have you cheated on Kathryn with her?” I demanded.  
  
She reacted as if I had slapped her. “No!” she exclaimed. “I ... I ... we just ....”  
  
“Have you been to bed with her, Seven?”  
  
“No,” she said flatly, and I believed her. I could see that this was almost killing her. “Not exactly.”  
  
“Oh my God,” I said, as much to myself as the drone. “How ... exactly ... far has this gone?”  
  
Seven squared her shoulders. “Almost every afternoon in the past month we have engaged in kissing and mutual caressing of erogenous areas. However, we have never orally stimulated each other‘s genitals while unclothed on a bed, which I believe would constitute being unfaithful to Kathryn.”  
  
“EVERY afternoon?!” I gaped. “For a month?!”  
  
“That is correct, yes.”  
  
“And Kathryn has no idea?”  
  
“No!” she blurted. “How could I say anything? I love Kathryn! I can not hurt her, Chakotay.”  
  
I let out a breath. “Well, Jesus, this IS going to hurt her, Seven. A lot.”  
  
“I know ...” she moaned. “I think maybe I was hoping ... you would love Rikku as well, so she could become part of our relationship.”  
  
I let out a short, humourless laugh. “We’re going to have to get a bigger bed,” I quipped.  
  
“Please, Chakotay,” she begged.  
  
“What?” I asked her. “What do you expect me to do?”  
  
“I don’t know!” she said desperately. “Help me. Tell me what to do!”  
  
I took hold of the pretty drone by the shoulders. “Seven, I can’t do that,” I told her. “This is something you have to think about yourself.”  
  
She sagged against me. “I have thought about it,” she said. “I have thought about it almost incessantly, and yet I have come to NO conclusions.”  
  
“Well, it’s a complicated problem.”  
  
“I assumed ... that falling in love was mutually exclusive. That once I had engaged my heart with Rikku’s, I would cease to have the feelings I have for Kathryn. I had hoped she would cease to matter to me, and my decision would be easier.”  
  
“Sadly, that’s not necessarily true. After all, look at Kathryn herself. She professes to love both you and me, and has carried on a relationship with both of us for over three years.”  
  
“That is different,” Seven snapped, more than a little irritable. “Besides, I truly do not believe that Kathryn holds the same depth of feeling for you as she does for me.”  
  
Wow, she never pulled her punches. “Yeah, right back at you, Seven,” I said. “I’ve managed to con myself with that one a hundred times as well.”  
  
Seven didn’t look happy, but didn’t argue.  
  
“Does Rikku know about Kathryn?” I asked her.  
  
“She knows ... some,” she confessed. “They have never met, although I have told her some of our history, including how she rescued me from the Borg. She understands how great a debt I owe Kathryn.”  
  
“Does she know about me?” I asked.  
  
“No,” she said. “I considered that unnecessary.”  
  
Fair enough. “So,” I said, needing to know exactly what Seven’s state of mind was. “Are you seriously considering leaving Kathryn for Rikku? Seriously?”  
  
“I ... I don’t know. She’s asked me to come with her when she leaves Earth in a few months.“  
  
“Really?” I gaped. This was moving fast. “Where is she going?”  
  
Seven sighed. “Rikku travels a lot, she is an artist, and she travels to all the most beautiful places in the quadrant to paint them.”  
  
“I see. And ... you think you‘d be happy doing that?”  
  
“Well, I’m not going to be happy in Starfleet,” she said bluntly. “Chakotay, Rikku’s work is incredible ... being with her has changed me in a lot of ways. She’s made me feel things that are so far apart from mathematics and sciences ....”  
  
“You mean she makes you feel things that Kathryn never could?”  
  
Seven looked own at her hands in shame. “Yes,” she said, almost inaudibly.  
  
I sighed, and tugged my ear for along moment. “Seven,” I began at last. “It sounds to me ... as though you’ve already made your mind up.”  
  
“No, I ...” she spluttered. Then she looked away, tears filling her eyes. “I love Kathryn,” she said.  
  
“I know you do,” I told her. “No one knows that better than I do. But ... you’re a young woman, and you’ve spent most of your life as a Borg drone, and then on Voyager with only a hundred and fifty people.”  
  
She bit her lip.  
  
“I think that coming back to Earth was always going to be a big event for you,” I told her. “Everything was always going to change, including your relationships.”  
  
“Do you think so?”  
  
“Yes. I think in her heart of hearts, Kathryn thinks so, too. She’s seen how dissatisfied and disoriented you’ve been since we got back. Perhaps she wasn’t expecting it so soon, but ... I don’t think she’ll be surprised.”  
  
“Oh,” Seven moaned.   
  
“You DO have to tell her, though.”  
  
“I know,” she whispered. “I just don’t want to hurt her.”  
  
“Hurting the people that we love is an unfortunate part of being human,” I said. “But Seven ... I’ll be there for her. She won’t be alone.”  
  
Her eyes met mine in a sudden rush of gratitude. Suddenly I think she realised what a godsend I was. “Thank you,” she muttered.  
  
“Why don’t you go and talk to her?” I suggested. “I’ll stay in town and give you some time alone.”  
  
She nodded, and gathered herself together. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy for the young drone. Disappointing Kathryn was never something she took lightly, and this betrayal was one I felt she would never forgive herself for.  
  
I watched her thoughtfully as she walked slowly up the hill towards Kathryn’s house. Despite the fact that I would probably have the woman I loved all to myself from now on, I can’t say I felt any kind of victory. The thought of Kathryn’s pain was just unbearable, and I knew how deeply and awfully hurt she was going to be by Seven’s departure.  
  
I spent the rest of the morning wandering round Cartagena in a kind of trance. I looked around shops and talked to people, even getting recognised as the First Officer of the famous Starship Voyager a couple of times.  
  
By the time I went down to the ocean, I was starting to cry. Looking out over the bay, I was completely unable to stop my tears from falling. The hills, the sandstone buildings, the almost unbearably blue sea. Such a beautiful place. All three of us had all come here for what we thought would be a holiday, and this was the place where everything had changed forever. At that moment, I didn’t know if this would be for better or for worse.  
  
At 1500, I decided to head back to Kathryn’s house. I couldn’t bear the thoughts running around in my head any longer, I needed to be there for Kathryn.  
  
I walked up the road slowly, watching for any sign that Seven was still there, that they were still in discussion, but everything was as peaceful and tranquil as it had been when I had left that morning.  
  
I let myself in the front door, and everything was quiet inside, as well. I looked around the house until I found Kathryn in the kitchen, feeding Lulu from a small dish on the floor.  
  
“Kathryn?” I asked gently.  
  
She looked at me with red eyes. “Hello, Chakotay ...” she sighed, and gave me a wan little smile.  
  
“Where’s Seven?” I asked.  
  
“She ... she went to talk to her ... to the woman,” she said.  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“Not really, no,” she said, but smiled bravely nonetheless.  
  
“I’m ... I’m so sorry.”  
  
“Are you?” she snapped. “Why? Isn’t this what you wanted? Seven out of the picture and me all to yourself?”  
  
“No, you know it isn’t, I .... Not like this.”  
  
“Mmmm,” she said heavily, as if she didn’t quite believe me. “Well, it’s irrelevant really isn’t it. She’s gone. The decision‘s made for me.”  
  
“It’ll be okay,” I reassured her. “We’ll get through this.”  
  
She swallowed. “Yes, we will,” she said. She looked away, fighting her tears.  
  
“Kathryn, if you need to be alone for a while ...”  
  
“No, I don’t,” she said firmly. “But I do want to get out of here.”  
  
“You do?”  
  
“Yes,” she said. “I told Seven she could use the house ... while she figures out what she wants, if she wants to take the plunge and leave with this woman or not. But ... I don’t think I want to be in this house for a while.”  
  
“Where do you want to go, then?”  
  
She sighed. “I have an apartment still, on Besaid. I was second-in-command of a colony there a few years ago before I met Mark. It’s a lovely planet, and FAR away from here. I think you’ll like it.”  
  
“O-okay,” I stuttered. I still wasn’t certain if she really wanted me, or if this was a knee-jerk reaction to Seven’s revelations.  
  
“Good. Pack your stuff then. I want to get out of here tonight.”  
  
With that, she marched into the bedroom and got her own suitcases out, stuffing things into them angrily. I watched her, feeling her rage and bitterness and misery.  
  
“Kathryn ...” I implored, reaching out to her.  
  
She shook my arm off. “Come on, Chakotay, we don’t have much time. The transport station closes at 2100.”  
  
“Okay,” I said, thinking it was probably better for her to get through this at her own pace.  
  
Fortunately, I didn’t have a lot to do, since I had only arrived here myself the previous day. I ended up helping Kathryn decide what she was going to take, and what she would leave to collect at a later date. We were all packed and ready to leave by 1900. We would transport to my place in San Francisco for the evening, and get passage to Besaid the next day from Starfleet.  
  
As we walked to the transport station, Lulu on a lead, Kathryn started sobbing. Quietly at first, and then her emotions gained momentum, and she really let go. I pulled her tight against my chest by the side of the road and held her, kissing across the top of her head and not caring that she was soaking my t-shirt with her tears. She clung to me, needing me with a ferocity that I had never known from the normally composed, controlled Captain. I wondered how many times in her life she had really broken down like this.  
  
“It’s okay ...” I soothed. “It’s okay ...”  
  
“It hurts so much, Chakotay, I really love her ...”  
  
By her legs, Lulu whined pitifully.  
  
“I know you do, Kathryn. But ... she couldn’t help it, she didn’t want to hurt you, you know that ....”  
  
She sobbed again, and I went between soothing her and placating her for another twenty minutes before she managed to gather herself together enough to go for transport.  
  
“Come on,” I said as she wiped her eyes.   
  
“Yes,” she replied, steeling her jaw. “Let’s get out of here, Chakotay.”  
  
I took her hand, and the two of us went into the transport station, alone and together.


End file.
